1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to system for authenticating products based upon measuring anticipated changes in absorption, reflection, or emission of authentication materials due to the physical characteristics of a genuine product or product package. More particularly, the present invention provides for a system for authenticating products based upon an expected differential effect in absorption, reflection or emission with respect to a defined plurality of authentication materials when the absorption, reflection and/or emission of the same are measured across one material versus another. Such system may employ a plurality of authentication materials applied to the back of a product label to produce a fingerprint when the absorption, reflection and/or emission of the authentication materials are measured across a portion of the product or product packaging.
2. Background of the Invention
U.S. Pat. No. 5,753,511 discloses an automated method of developing a database to store information for fingerprint-type analysis. The usefulness of the measurement of the effect of interaction of light-emitting materials within products with other components, such as neutral spirits, vodka, tequila, soft drinks and infant formula, in authenticating genuine product is disclosed. A fingerprint, referring to the light emission intensity from a light-emissive compound in combination with a liquid sample of a product, is used to authenticate the product (Col. 4, Ln. 23–29). There is taught a method for determining the relative amounts of key ingredients in a product by exposing the products to selected light-emissive compounds present in a light-emissive compound. Bandpass and cutoff filters are used to isolate excitation wavelengths from emission spectra due to light emission from the sample.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,124B1 similarly discloses measuring light emission from light emissive materials interacting with key elements in a product for the purpose of authenticating the product. The patent claims a method for determining relatedness of a sample to a standard known to be authentic or known to have at least one selected characteristic of authentic material that requires combining a sample with at least one light-emissive compound to form a sample mixture, and irradiating the same to develop a fingerprint.
Systems such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,753,511 and 6,232,124 permit products such as water, beverages and liquid pharmaceuticals to be fingerprinted using dyes such as fluorescent dyes to determine authenticity when compared to a side by side trial with the authentic product. For comparison purposes, however, samples must often be shipped to an appropriately equipped laboratory. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/428,704 commonly assigned, teaches in field testing, may be performed by placing the fluorescent dyes on a microchip. The microchips may be placed into the product and compared to an original in the field for authenticity testing. This provides an enhanced portability to authenticity testing.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/556,280, likely commonly assigned, provides for tracking of the origin of a container and/or authentication of a container using a emission detection device and a printer to print security dyes on the label of a product. The dyes used to mark the container provide a security feature that may be used to determine product authenticity and origin of manufacturing (track and trace). Such system, however, is less than fool proof as the marks may be removed by a skilled artisan.
There remains a need for improved methods for permitting portable product finger printing.